Searching for Acceptance
by Cardinal Syn
Summary: *Spelling grammar etc update 9-16-02* Two new girls enter Hogwarts, and the trouble starts in potions class when one of them comes in contact with... catnip? Fuzzy, almost angsty at parts, and moral-teaching ^_^
1. One to Gryffindor, One to Slytherin

S4A1.html ****

TITLE: Searching for Acceptance  
**PART:** 1/3 (Chapter One - One to Gryffindor, One to Slytherin)**  
ABBREVIATED TITLE: **S4A  
**AUTHOR: **Cardinal Syn/Jamie Carlson  
**RATING: **PG for Language**  
SPOILERS: **Misc. Harry Potter spoilers  
**DISCLAIMER: **Harry Potter and all things HP belong to JK Rowling. Not me.  
**NOTES: **Lamiæ are creatures of legend, similar to vampires. One of the descriptions that go around nowadays are of a snake woman, with the torso of a human woman and the tail of a snake, who feeds on the life-force and blood of young men. The Lamiæ in this story are similar to those.  
  
This is a Short Story  
  
**WARNINGS: **Language, and possible butchering of personalities and DEFINITELY of the legend of the Lamiæ ^^;**  
PAIRINGS: **None that are obvious this time around  
**MAIN CHARACTERS (in order of most prominent in the story): **2OCs (original characters), Severus Snape and the other teachers at Hogwarts, Harry, Ron & Hermione  
**FANFICTION.NET SUMMARY: **Two new girls enter Hogwarts, and the trouble starts in potions class when one of them comes in contact with... catnip? Fuzzy, almost angsty at parts, and moral-teaching ^_^  
**EXTENDED SUMMARY: **Trouble starts when two new students enter Hogwarts. Within a matter of days, one of them goes haywire during Professor Snape's Potions class - oddly enough, when she happens to come into contact with some catnip... This story is about acceptance of those unlike yourself, and of how friendships can be made in the oddest of places.  
  
Chapter One - One To Slytherin, One To Gryffindor 

  
"There are days when those gray skies make you blue! Each forward step you take, you fall back by two†," a cheery voice sang. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger all leaned out of their car on the train to Hogwarts, staring at the rather loud girl in the back. "You've been hit by some hard knocks, you just can't stand! Feeling like Alice felt in Wonderland..."

"Enough!" a strict, equally female voice snapped. The other winced and muttered an apology.

"They're a little old to be first-years," commented Hermione. She, Ron, and Harry were entering their third year in Hogwarts.

"Yeah, they look more like fourth or fith-years," Ron agreed. "But I've _definitely_ never heard the singing one before, or seen her for that matter!"

"They may be transfers from other schools," Harry said, leaning back in his seat, looking at his newest Albus Dumbledore trading card. The image waved at him and wandered out of the picture, probably to go visit some other image.

"Probably," Ron said, and nothing more was said about the two of the newest students to Hogwarts. 

***

"Crescent, Liam," Professor McGonagall called. "Please come up here and be sorted."

It was after all of the new First Years had been sorted. Now, the transfer students were to be sorted into their own respectful Houses.

Ron nudged Harry when he saw it was the stricter of the two girls they had seen on the train. 

The girl had shoulder-length, straight blue-black hair, which was styled to fall across her face in front, almost covering her eyes, and swooped down to frame her face. Her eyes were almond-shaped and a startling green shade. She held her head high with pride, and walked with a serpentine grace. 

"You just _know_ she's going to get Slytherin," Ron said. Harry nodded.

The girl walked up the steps to the stool and Professor McGonagall and took a seat. She stared over the heads of the crowd of children preparing to eat the welcoming meal at the long rows of tables. Professor McGonagall set the hat on the girl's head, and it began to Sort.

"Hmm, interesting. You are a definite Slytherin, but you have other qualities, Gryffindor qualities. Odd mixture... But it's leaning more toward Slytherin. Where do you desire to go?" the hat asked her.

"It doesn't matter to me. Wherever I go, I will still be learning wizardry skills. That is all that concerns me."

"Are you sure? Alright then." The hat then addressed the crowd.

"SLYTHERIN!"

The Slytherin tables cheered, and Professor Snape nodded to himself at the High Table.

"Alright. Maxwell, Nii Nah," Minerva McGonagall called. The spunky girl who had been sitting with Liam trotted up the steps. In comparison to her friend, her movements were rather feline - almost kittenish.

She had poufy, short brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her skin was a surprising pale shade, almost white. Even her friend had darker, more tanned skin than she. Nii Nah sat on the stool and kicked her legs playfully, causing her robes to billow about her ankles.

"They're third years, by the way," Hermione said. Ron and Harry looked at her in surprise. "The one sent to Slytherin, Liam, is only thirteen. That one is fourteen," she said, pointing to the hyper girl being Sorted.

"Well, that is certainly odd... Anyway, GRYFFINDOR!" the hat crowed. The girl hopped off the stool and threw a disappointed look at Liam, who nodded back with understanding, then turned her attention to Draco Malfoy, who was ranting to her about how great it was to be a Slytherin. She looked bored to Harry.

The Nii Nah girl took the empty seat next to Hermione. She smiled at the three of them.

"Konnnichiwaa," she said, smiling brightly. "I am Nii Nah Maxwell‡, I was originally from Japan, then moved to America... Liam and I came to this school together from a little one in America." If Harry didn't know better, he could have sworn the girl was PURRING.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron replied, shaking the girl's proffered hand. "This is Hermione Granger and the famous - or infamous, if you are talking to Snape - Harry Potter."

The girl's eyes widened and she perked up. "Oh, that's right! Liam was saying I would probably get to meet you right off, since you're in Gryffindor." Hermione arched her eyebrows.

"She knew you'd be in Gryffindor?" she asked. Nii Nah shrugged.

"Liam analyzed our personalities and said I'd either end up in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, but she said it was more likely to be Gryffindor. And she said she'd probably end up in Slytherin with the 'snakey-people', because of the way her mind works," she said, taking a bite out of the chicken leg she had snatched while speaking. "But," she mumbled around her food before swallowing, "She said there was a slim chance for her to get into Gryffindor, since she isn't EXACTLY like all the other Slytherins. I asked the hat, and he said he gave her the option, but she said she wasn't picky, and she isn't, really, when it comes to cliques and stuff - they annoy her." 

The girl talked rapidly and with a faint accent that didn't seem very American or even Japanese, to Hermione. But she let it go. The girl was pulsing with positive energy, and all three of the group already decided they liked her.

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Author's Notes: This is just a quick chapter to get this one up and going. It should only be about 3 or 4 chapters long, looking to be 3, and I'll try to get it finished by this coming Monday so that I can start work on my bigger HP fanfiction, which takes off a little after this one. I have to get this one out first because the next one has mention of Liam in it. The day I first tried to submit this fic to FF.net Thursday night, but the servers were down ¬_¬ They were switching internet services once again....

† - First verse lyrics to "Call My Name (And I'll Be There)", from the English dub of Sailor Moon, and can be found on the CD soundtrack "Sailor Moon: Songs from the Hit TV Series"

‡ - I didn't steal the name Maxwell from Duo - I just like that name XP (Duo Maxwell is from Gundam Wing)


	2. Trouble in Potions

S4A2.html ****

TITLE: Searching for Acceptance  
**PART:** 2/3 (Chapter Two - Trouble in Potions)**  
ABBREVIATED TITLE: **S4A  
**AUTHOR: **Cardinal Syn/Jamie Carlson  
**RATING: **PG for Language**  
SPOILERS: **Misc. Harry Potter spoilers  
**DISCLAIMER: **Harry Potter and all things HP belong to JK Rowling. Not me.**  
NOTES: **Lamiæ are creatures of legend, similar to vampires. One of the descriptions that go around nowadays are of a snake woman, with the torso of a human woman and the tail of a snake, who feeds on the life-force and blood of young men. The Lamiæ in this story are similar to those.  
  
This is a Short Story  
  
**WARNINGS: **Language, and possible butchering of personalities and DEFINITELY of the legend of the Lamiæ ^^;**  
PAIRINGS: **None that are obvious this time around  
**MAIN CHARACTERS (in order of most prominent in the story): **2OCs (original characters), Severus Snape and the other teachers at Hogwarts, Harry, Ron & Hermione  
**FANFICTION.NET SUMMARY: **Two new girls enter Hogwarts, and the trouble starts in potions class when one of them comes in contact with... catnip? Fuzzy, almost angsty at parts, and moral-teaching ^_^  
**EXTENDED SUMMARY: **Trouble starts when two new students enter Hogwarts. Within a matter of days, one of them goes haywire during Professor Snape's Potions class - oddly enough, when she happens to come into contact with some catnip... This story is about acceptance of those unlike yourself, and of how friendships can be made in the oddest of places.  
  
**Note:** The story begins to center around Nii Nah and Liam now.

Chapter Two - Trouble in Potions 

Liam Crescent entered the Potions dungeon, the rest of the Slytherin students right behind her. She spotted Nii Nah standing up by Professor Snape's cauldron, asking the professor something. As if he felt Liam's eyes on him, Severus looked up, and his black met green as they held each other's stares. 

"Only if Crescent agrees to sit with you," Professor Snape said, his silky voice reaching Liam's ears as she drew nearer.

"Nii Nah?" Liam asked, stepping up beside the girl. Her friend turned to her, her blue eyes glittering. 

"You and I make one more for each side than expected, and I figured we might as well sit together," Nii Nah chirped. "I'm more likely to get my work done sitting with you anyway, and this way he doesn't have to re-work his seating chart, since it was made up before they heard we were coming."

Professor Snape's dark eyes fixed once again on Liam. He stared at her coldly, and she stared back in silence. He was the first to speak.

"Is this arrangement preferable for you, Crescent?"

"It's fine, Professor. She will not be an annoyance to me as she would be with other students," Liam replied evenly. She nodded at Nii Nah, who skipped over to the only empty work desk left, where she deposited her cauldron, wand, and books. "Thank you, Professor Snape. I understand you dislike Gryffindors, but I don't hold such automatic dislikes."

Snape's eyes flared as if she had challenged him. "And why would you be any different from the rest of the power-hungry children in Slytherin?" he asked, his voice low, only for her to hear.

"Because," Liam replied, equally quiet but as calm as ever, "Cliques are pointless. I am not Slytherin because I seek power - I am there because I wish to learn. I have no intentions of trying to become the most powerful or the smartest - I simply wish to _learn_. You need not show any Slytherin favoritism toward me. I will not appreciate it if it is given, nor will I ask for it."

Snape's eyes narrowed a little, but Liam couldn't find the contempt there she expected. He regarded her with his customary seriousness and calm-before-the-storm quietness.

"As you wish."

Liam nodded, and turned back to the class, her straight blue-black hair swishing across her back as her robes swished across her legs. Her gaze met that of Draco Malfoy, who had been eavesdropping on her conversation with Professor Snape, and smiled at the confusion and disbelief in his eyes. 

Her seat was to Draco's left. She sat down next to Nii Nah, and set up her supplies. She felt a hand brush against her sleeve and turned her head just far enough to fix Draco in her peripheral vision. "Yes, Malfoy?"

"What ARE you doing?" He asked, his voice filled with contempt as he threw a look at Nii Nah. "You're sitting with a _Gryffindor_!"

"I am aware of that," Liam said coldly. Nii Nah turned her head to look at Liam and Draco in puzzlement, then frowned when what was being said registered. She stuck her tongue out rudely at Draco. Liam caught this and gave her a sharp slap on the arm with the back of her left hand. "**Nii.**"

Nii frowned again, but turned back to her own work. "Fuxar..." she muttered. "Stupid Slytherin assholes...." She yelped as a second, sharper slap was applied to her upper arm. If she cursed again in class, she would get it across the mouth. Liam had a tendency to be very authoritative with Nii Nah, who definitely needed it. For all her sweetness and charm, Nii could have a very nasty streak when others were pestering her. Usually when Liam was involved.

Liam turned her attention back to Draco. "I don't have any problems sitting with a Gryffindor. I will not abandon friends I had before I came to Hogwarts for a self-centered clique of immature children," she said coldly, her green eyes blazing. Draco looked as if he were going to respon nastily, but froze when he saw the dangerous look in Liam's eyes.

"Welcome back students, although I am sure there are many of you who would rather not _be _here. Now, on your first day back," Professor Snape said, his voice reaching every student, hushing them with its sound, "We will work on a Hyperactivity potion. Although some of you may not _need_ it," he commented, his black eyes flitting over to Nii Nah. The young girl was completely oblivious and continued to smile happily, ignoring the snickers from the Slytherin section.

"Your ingredients are huckleberry root, juice squeezed from a pepper plant, and catnip. This is a _very _easy potion to brew. But seeing as some of you have had trouble with such things before," his eyes swept through the Gryffindors, at Harry Potter and his friends, and through the other members of the class, never once going to the Slytherin's seats, "I will be available to aid you."

Nii Nah was sitting very, very still, sniffing the air. Her eyes went to the Slytherin girl who was handing out the catnip. Her nose twitched, and her eyes held fast on the greens. "Ca-catnip?" she asked, her voice hopeful. "W-we get to work with _catnip?_" The smile on her face was rather disturbing. 

Liam's eyes went from Nii Nah to the catnip and back again, a frown marring her pretty face, her eyes narrowed as she desperately thought of a way to stall or even stop the coming trouble. But it was too late. Nii Nah suddenly jumped up onto her desk, knocking her cauldron to the floor. She crouched, and very much _pounced_ on the poor girl with the catnip bundles in her hands.

The girl squealed as Nii Nah snatched up the catnip and bolted out the door with it.

Crying out for Nii Nah to come back, Liam stood and walked quickly after her friend. The stares of shock were ignored, the shouts of anger from Snape were ignored.

_Nonononononono,_ she thought to herself. _We'd got in, we'd made it this far, but on the first day, DAMN IT, on the first bloody day you had to do this to me, Nii? Why, WHY?_ It was only going to get worse from there.

***

Liam was the first to catch up with Nii Nah. Nii was crouched in a corner, gripping the catnip in her hands, giggling like a happy drunk. She looked up at Liam with dopey eyes, her pupils oval slits. She purred loudly. "Thish ish nice catnip, yeah..." Nii Nah said, giggling again.

"Give me the catnip, Nii Nah." Liam's voice was hard, her anger palpable as a fog around her. She reached out a hand, which twitched as if to slap the other girl. Nii Nah glared at her, standing slowly and edging toward the door that lead to the Gryffindor common rooms. 

"No! I never get to play with catnip anymore! Not since we came here!" 

"You _know_ what the catnip does to you. Give it to me, then go to the nurse and tell her someone slipped brandy into your drink or something. A Slytherin prank. She'll believe it."

Liam could feel the presence of Professor Snape long before he spoke.

"What the hell is the matter with the two of you?" he asked. His voice was very low, very menacing, and very, very angry. Liam ignored him. She could sense Professor McGonagall behind her as well. Head Master Dumbledore was standing in the doorway behind Nii Nah. The two were enclosed, trapped by the professors. Even one with a snare or petrifaction spell would be enough if they tried to escape. 

Liam tried once more to end it peacefully, and walked toward Nii Nah, one hand outstretched still to take the catnip. Nii Nah reacted in the way Liam feared.

Nii Nah leaped to the center of the makeshift ring of would-be captors, and crouched, hissing violently. Her furry blue tail broke free of its bonds, and began to lash angrily under her skirt. She narrowed her eyes and drew her lips back, baring her sharp teeth at Professors Snape and McGonagall. Her suddenly-visibly, pointy furless ears were plastered back against the top of her head.

In the silence that ensued after the hiss, as she realized what she had done, the catnip fell from Nii Nah's shock-limp hands. In her panic, she inadvertently brought Liam down with her.

"I... I'm not a snakey-person!" Nii Nah cried in fear, knowing that anyone with the ability to hiss were first believed to be related to Voldemort, or be like him. She brought her hands up to her mouth and shook her head. "I'm not a serpent-person, ask Liam, she IS one -- !" Again shocked by what has come from her moth, aware that she just veritably destroyed her best friend's chances at learning at Hogwarts - or anywhere else for that matter - tears filled Nii Nah's eyes.

Dumbledore and the two Professors were watching Liam very, very carefully.

"What does she mean?" Dumbledore asked, his kind voice edged with concern and demand. 

Liam's head was bowed. The hand that had reached for the catnip hung limp at her side. Her hair fell forward to cover her face. She slowly raised her head, her eyes hard, chin up defiantly. She spread her arms out to the sides a little, and used one arm to moved the silently crying cat-girl behind her. She then stood in front of her friend, protective and loyal, even in what may have been, in her mind, her final hours alive. 

Liam's green eyes were glowing now, anger, resentment, bitterness all mixed with sorrow and self-loathing shining forth. She gritted her teeth, setting her jaw. She regarded Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall with coldness and that utter calm. The only animate part of her was her eyes.

"Well?" Severus snapped. 

"I am not what you seem to think me to be," Liam said. Her voice was calm, almost casual, but they could all hear the warring emotions in her eyes reflected, ever so faintly in her voice. "I am a Lamia, of the clan of Lylyth. I didn't come here with any intention to harm anyone. I came here intending only to learn. But I am fully aware that Lamiæ are killed on-sight, in most parts of the world, and I _highly_ doubt we are allowed to go to school with your children."

Albus walked over to the girls. Liam's eyes flared as he drew closer, and she released a quiet, serpentine hiss, but there was nothing behind it. They both knew it. Albus placed a gentle hand on Liam's shoulder, and the girl veritably crumpled. She and Nii Nah, still unexplained as to what exactly _she_ was, both threw themselves in to his arms and began to cry.

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Author's Notes: Man, I still don't have anything in here to relate to PG-13, and this is chapter two of MAYBE four.. Probably 3, actually. O_O Snape's part will be bigger in the next chapter, so worry not Snape-fans. ^.^ (I hope *sniffles*) 

Please r/r, my friends, and I'll see if I'm popular enough to actually write out the next story....


	3. Acceptance

S4A3.html ****

TITLE: Searching for Acceptance  
**PART:** 3/3 (Chapter Three - Acceptance)**  
ABBREVIATED TITLE: **S4A  
**AUTHOR: **Cardinal Syn/Jamie Carlson  
**RATING: **PG for Language**  
SPOILERS: **Misc. Harry Potter spoilers  
**DISCLAIMER: **Harry Potter and all things HP belong to JK Rowling. Not me.  
**NOTES: **Lamiæ are creatures of legend, similar to vampires. One of the descriptions that go around nowadays are of a snake woman, with the torso of a human woman and the tail of a snake, who feeds on the life-force and blood of young men. The Lamiæ in this story are similar to those.  
  
This is a Short Story  
  
**WARNINGS: **Language, and possible butchering of personalities and DEFINITELY of the legend of the Lamiæ ^^;**  
PAIRINGS: **None that are obvious this time around  
**MAIN CHARACTERS (in order of most prominent in the story): **2OCs (original characters), Severus Snape and the other teachers at Hogwarts, Harry, Ron & Hermione  
**FANFICTION.NET SUMMARY: **Two new girls enter Hogwarts, and the trouble starts in potions class when one of them comes in contact with... catnip? Fuzzy, almost angsty at parts, and moral-teaching ^_^  
**EXTENDED SUMMARY: **Trouble starts when two new students enter Hogwarts. Within a matter of days, one of them goes haywire during Professor Snape's Potions class - oddly enough, when she happens to come into contact with some catnip... This story is about acceptance of those unlike yourself, and of how friendships can be made in the oddest of places.  
  
**Note:** The story begins to center around Nii Nah and Liam now.

  
Chapter Three - Acceptance 

"This is definitely interesting," Madame Hooch commented, sitting back in her chair. 

An emergency meeting had been called about the two "transfer students", Liam Crescent, found to be a Lamia, and Nii Nah Maxwell, who was found to be a Japanese "_Nekohito_"†, a form of werecat that eventually stopped shifting between cat and human altogether and remained in one, constant, half-form.

Neither were really allowed to train as witches or wizards, especially not in schools full of human children. 

"It's just not safe to have a lamia here among the children," Madame Pomfrey commented.

"But she has been nothing but polite to them, and stated herself she only wishes to learn witchcraft," Professor McGonagall replied. "And since Miss Maxwell is only a _nekohito_, she isn't that much of a threat - other than the obvious cat-like tendency to go after catnip -" there was brief, nervous laughter " - and her hyperactivity, she has no traits of her 'cousins', werecats."

Flitwick shook his head rapidly. "But the other one, Miss Crescent, is a full-blooded Lamia! We _all _know what _their_ kind do!" Snape's lips twitched.

"You mean those old legends? You don't really believe those tales of how the Lamia took and disposed of their lovers, do you?" he said silkily. Flitwick frowned.

"For your information, those stories are TRUE -"

"So says the one with the so-called 'third eye'."

"I foresaw that comment."

"Oh, no you didn't, you old bat!"

Arguing ensued between the teachers. It was obvious to everyone even as they argued that they were skirting the issue - except for Severus Snape, who was enjoying himself.

"That is enough!" Dumbledore's voice snapped them all out of their squabbling. "Acting like children about this won't get us anywhere! And as for Lamia nature, why don't you just ask Liam herself?" He gestured to the door, where Liam stood, dressed no longer in the gray sweater, silver-and-green tie of Slytherin, and black robes of Hogwarts, but in a plain black dress.

She walked slowly into the room, her green eyes going from one teacher to another, before landing on Severus Snape. She closed her eyes momentarily, more of a slow blink.

"Again, I apologize for the actions of Nii Nah Maxwell, and of myself. We were deceitful upon arrival here," she said. Her voice was quiet. "But I assure you, all we wanted to do was learn here. Lamiæ are not allowed to train in magic at schools, and we are even denied the right to use proper magic by our own clans. It was the last thing I could think of doing to be able to study what I have wanted to study all of my life."

Liam looked over at Dumbledore sadly. "I understand that we are no longer killed on sight. But we ARE persecuted, and I suppose not without good reason." She then turned to the entire Hogwarts staff. "But you _must _understand! Not all Lamiæ wish to remain the way we have been so long - no better than leaches, living wasted lives with no point and no reason!" Liam's eyes blazed with her anger and bitterness toward her own race's legacy.

"Not all of us hunt out innocent prey, feeding on the lives and blood of others. We can survive without that! _I_ have survived without that for all of my life!" Liam sighed, and gestured at Flitwick. "He was wrong - he had had Lamiæ confused with the Succubus demon. Granted, what most Lamiæ do is worse." She folded her arms over her chest with a frown. "But I'm not most Lamiæ. There are exceptions to EVERY rule, and why _can't _I be one them?"

"Dear," McGonagall said, "You are young yet. What will happen when you become older, more mature, and more swayed by your own heritage?"

"I won't be. Lamiæ can choose to never _take_ their snake-forms. I never have, and after I reach my sixteenth birthday, if I haven't by then, I never _will."_ Liam replied. "Lamiæ are made by the choices our cursed bloodline makes as we age. I am trying my hardest to make the _right_ ones." 

"Trying sometimes isn't good enough," Flitwick said under his breath, but Liam - and everyone else - caught it.

There was silence. The person least likely to break the silence was the one to break it.

"I would rather the two stay. I had thought that equality for _all _sentient beings was one of the things this school taught?" Everyone's eyes were now on Severus Snape. "But then again, I may be wrong."

"You are quite right, Severus," Dumbledore said, smiling. "Liam is young yet, and any signs can be watched for, any problems headed off before they become disastrous."

"I agree," McGonagall said. Madame Hooch nodded. The other teachers agreed, albeit hesitantly, still shocked that Professor Severus Snape, the infamous Potions Master, was the first - and seemingly _only_ - teacher who was willing to speak up for the Lamia and her _nekohito _companion.

After a few moment's discussion, Professor Snape stood. "You, student," he said to Liam. "Shall go _back _to your dorm. Change back into your uniform and be ready to attend dinner tonight. You are on one week's probation for your outburst. If you behave well, you will be taken off probation and be allowed the usual student privileges."

Liam didn't smile, didn't hope yet - she turned her gaze to Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House. The Transfiguration teacher took a deep breath, then nodded. "Please deliver this message to Nii Nah Maxwell - she is on two weeks probation for disrupting class and threatening a teacher, and ten points off of Gryffindor as her punishment for her outbirst. Also, ten points off of Slytherin, child, for your misbehavior." Minerva ignored Snape's annoyed look, and stood.

"Well, child, get back to your dorm. We will see you at the evening meal."

***

That evening was a tad strange for _everyone - _except Nii Nah Maxwell. She was enjoying the attention she got with her natural looks, and was very happy to be able to stay at Hogwarts with the one she loved.

Her poufy hair was back to its natural blue, and she didn't have to hide her tail anymore. She enjoyed using it to tickle random passers-by. 

Liam sat once again at the Slytherin table, Draco Malfoy and his cronies half-scared, half-awed by the Lamia. Draco never seemed to take his eyes off of her. 

Severus Snape sat at his usual seat at the High Table, his eyes moving from student to student, stopping briefly on Liam and then on Nii Nah. He was intrigued at having a Slytherin under his wing that _wasn't_ like the others, in more ways than any of them could possibly imagine.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron were quite ecstatic to have two new friends - Nii Nah had insisted they meet Liam, and all three had found her quite un-Slytherin, to their joy.

It was a week after the beginning of the new year at Hogwart's. And things would only continue to get stranger.

- OWARI -‡

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Author's Notes: This turned out COMPLETELY differently than I had intended O_O. But it's an OK prequel to my bigger story.. I just hope I don't have everyone so OOC in the next one. The next one centers COMPLETELY around Snape and another new character; here's the summary for a preview:

****

Blood and Potions - Section One: Of Snakes and Night Skies

__

Albus Dumbledore has decided that it is time for Hogwarts to have a fulltime Defense Against Vampires teacher, and has chosen a renowned vampire specialist. But this vampire specialist is a bit hesitant to take the offer as she, herself, is a Dhampir; half-vampire, half human. When she decides to turn down the position, something interesting happens that changes her mind, and makes her decide to stay....

I swear that one will be better Sorry for the cheeseyness and OOCness of this one. More about Liam and Nii Nah will be shown in the next story.

† - "Nekohito" - made-up word combining the Japanese words _neko _(cat) and _hito _(person), roughly making that word mean "catperson".

‡ - "Owari" - Japanese word roughly meaning "finished" or "Over"


End file.
